


The swan

by kitsuyuki



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swan Lake Fusion, Angst, Ice Skating, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:28:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26778895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsuyuki/pseuds/kitsuyuki
Summary: A love story between the second prince Kei and his beloved swan king.
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	1. Starry night

**Author's Note:**

> A short fic with three short chapters.

Under the stars, Kei remembered the first time he had seen his beloved. When, accidentally, during a hunt, he had spotted a lone white swan on the lake and as soon as night fell, he saw the lake freeze and the swan turn into a beautiful young man.

Discreetly, Kei watched him skating gracefully on the ice. Distracted by the beauty and elegance in each movement of the mysterious swan, he neglected himself and ended up being noticed by the other. He saw the exact moment when the young man changed his expression from surprise to frowning.

"Who are you?"

He took a step forward and answered. "I am the second prince Kei Tsukishima. And who are you?"

"During the day I am a swan and at night I take on the human form. I am someone with no memories of the past and who does not know my own name."

Not wanting the conversation to end, the prince commented, "Your skating is very beautiful."

"Thanks. Skating is something I love to do and it's the only thing I can do since I can't get too far from the lake."

For a long moment, the two remained silent, just strangely enjoying each other's comfortable presence.

The sun was about to rise and before saying goodbye, Kei said, "I'll be back to see you."

The young man just nodded.

He came back and would come back every night, on that same frozen lake, to see the one he fell in love with. And it would be no different on this starry night.

Kei watched admired the performance of his beloved swan. The way he skated was as if he unconsciously demanded that all attention be on him and that made Kei affectionately call him King.

As soon as the King finished skating, he left the lake and sat down next to Kei, letting his head rest on the curve of his neck.

Although Kei had been stressed out for the past few days with nightmares haunting him and the night of royal ball, which his mother was organizing, approaching, at this moment he felt completely relaxed listening to his king swan's low snoring.

With the stars and the moon as his witnesses, he declared, "King, you are my first love and you will be my only one."

  
  
  



	2. Nightmares

He looked at his reflection in the mirror and in no way Kei could see in front of him a prince with a presentable appearance for a ball. He was too pale, too thin, with dark circles under his eyes. What was leaving him in that state were the endless nightmares of a little boy being tortured by a cruel man.

Kei woke up screaming and with tears streaming from his eyes to the pillow whenever he dreamed of the child having his whole body beaten. He heard the sound of the whip tearing the skin and the screams of pain echoing in his head. He couldn't eat properly when he thought of the little boy almost hanging himself with the chain around his neck, trying to reach the leftover food that was purposely placed a little far from him. He felt sick to the point of making him vomit every time he remembered the boy being aggressively fucked from behind or choking on a penis that was stuck in his mouth.

The prince felt like a mere spectator being forced to watch a horror show without being able to do anything to intervene. The feeling of helplessness dominated his being. He wanted the nightmares to stop but more than that Kei wished the child was not a real person.

He sighed. Even though he was tired and had an intense headache, he still had to attend the ball.

Kei thought it was simply unnecessary to dance with a lot of ladies to the tedious music. Why did his mother worry about trying to get him to get a bride? It was his older brother, Akiteru, who would be the future ruler of the kingdom and not him.

Amid so many faces, a single young woman had caught his eye. She wore an elegant black dress adorned with black feathers.

Without realizing it, he had asked her to dance. Kei couldn't help noticing the similarities between the lady in front of him and his beloved swan.

"It's a choice." She said.

He had been caught off guard while looking into her eyes. "What?"

"Wasting time here when my brother needs you."

"Who's your brother?"

"Tobio."

Suddenly Kei passed out. He was dreaming again, but now he was able to see what was not clear before. The child's face.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by people with worried and frightened features. The young woman was already gone.

He stood up abruptly and, ignoring the initial dizziness, started walking.

"Kei, where are you going ?!"

Was it his brother's or his mother's voice? No matter, he needed to go to the lake.


	3. Last night

He had spent years alone in that lake, but it was only after he met Kei that King rediscovered how painful loneliness was. Helplessness, anguish, emptiness ... Sensations so familiar and part of a past not so forgotten.

His memory was returning, a little each day, and the fragments of his past began to fit together, forming an image that he did not want to see. The vivid and sudden memories made him intensely relive the past to the point of being confused with the present.

It was maddening to go through all that suffering again. Cry, scream and then realize that everything was just hallucination. Only during the night, with the presence of Kei, that King was able to relax and discern exactly the reality of the illusion. The nights were his safe haven and he was confident that Kei would never leave him.

It was a night like any other with a single difference, the absence of his prince.

The swan waited and waited.

He took a deep breath, without closing his eyes so that the tears that formed in the corners of his eyes would not fall, trying to calm himself. He would not let his feelings affect his skating and would try to give a perfect performance.

'Try' was the key word.

Falling on the easiest jumps, unbalanced in the spins, stumbling over the simplest steps... A disaster, a complete disaster. King was unable to concentrate while in intense pain, pain that he did not know for what reason he was feeling.

He hadn't realized it yet, but his past was returning much more than just in memories.

His back was stinging from the cuts that reappeared wide open, marks on his wrists and ankles had returned and purple, yellow and green bruises covered his skin. It was when he fell again and saw his own reflection in the ice that he realized the state he was in. Dirty, thin, full of bruises and torn clothes. A pitiful sight.

King tried to get up, but when he felt a viscous liquid seeping from his hole, he froze. That same liquid also filled his mouth. He spat out knowing what it was and knowing how it tasted for a long time. It was cum.

He was out of his body or at least that was what it looked like to him. The swan saw himself completely static. Shame, fear, pain and suffering were all stuck in that body. He didn't want to go back, after all he was finally free. Then why? Why was Kei there?

"Tobio." Kei called him softly. "I'm here." He was on his knees and hugging him.

"You're late, you idiot." Tobio said in a choked voice as his tears flowed freely.

"Please forgive me." The prince closed his eyes, feeling his swan hug him back.

Kei was sitting with his back against a tree and Tobio was lying with his head on his beloved's lap. They both wanted the nights to be just happy and peaceful moments, but they knew it was no longer possible to escape the bad times and so they talked about everything they avoided talking about in the past nights. About nightmares, the ball and the memories.

One said and the other listened patiently until it was his turn to speak and so the conversation flowed without interruption, until Kei commented on the appearance of Tobio's sister at the ball.

"Dear?" Kei asked worriedly when he saw his beloved's teary eyes.

"Miwa…" Tobio said wistfully. "I miss her so much."

Without Kei needing to encourage him to speak, Tobio told him about his family.

"Me, my sister and my father were the noble Kageyama family. We lived happily and without worries." Tobio smiled with his eyes closed when reviewing memories of him skating with his sister while his father watched them. But his smile soon disappeared, giving way to an anguished expression. "But things changed when our father married a woman who hated me as much as my sister. He never suspected this hatred, after all she never mistreated us in front of him. Life was still bearable..." His voice was getting more and more stuffy, but Kei could still hear every word and feel the pain and bitterness with which it came out. "Until I lost my dad and sister to an accident. It was just me and that witch left. And what does she do? She sells me to a friend of hers." Looking directly into Kei's eyes, he said sadly, "You already know what I went through with him."

Anger bubbled up inside Kei. He wished he had killed with his own hands those who made his swan suffer.

Tobio gently touched his face, pulling him out of his murderous thoughts.

"I haven't finished speaking."

Kei closed his eyes and nodded. "I know."

"After I was used so many times, I was discarded. After all, I was already becoming a dying rag." He laughed without humor. "A subordinate of his threw me into this same lake. I was supposed to die, but the Moon took pity on me and gave me a second chance." Tobio paused briefly to breathe and said, "But I'm tired. This is going to be my last night. I'm sorry."

"There is no reason to apologize and you are wrong, this will be  _ our _ last night."

The two looked at each other tenderly, enjoying the silence that surrounded them.

"Would you like to dance with me?" Kei asked.

"I would love to."

And they danced, regardless of the cracks in the ice or the sunrise approaching. They just wanted to make the most of their time.

The two stopped dancing in the middle of the lake. They shared one last kiss and one last hug. Two white wings appeared on Tobio's back and enveloped the couple.

As the sun came up, the ice beneath them gave way and they fell.

Kei and Tobio would remain together forever at the bottom of the lake.


End file.
